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Dust to mud in 4 days.

August 19, 2015 4:23 PM

Blog Post

We have experienced quite a turnaround in weather the last four days. Last Sunday August 16 – we were experiencing dry soil, high temperatures and crop stress. After a late Sunday afternoon rain shower of around 0.5 inch – things were looking good.

However, the rain persevered and now as of August 19 – many locations have had 5 to 9 inches of rain. The rate of rainfall was fairly easy so most of the rainfall soaked in. A few small creeks are running full but nothing serious. Areas around Royal, Rossie, Emmetsburg and West Bend received 7 to 9 inches of rain from August 16 to 19.

The US Drought Monitor had much of my area categorized as ‘abnormally dry’. I would expect much of that to change on August 20 when the Drought Monitor is updated. However, the northwest part of my area – which includes parts of Clay, Dickinson, Kossuth and Emmet county received about 2 inches of rain with the recent storms. So those areas may remain ‘abnormally dry’ by the Drought Monitor.

Paul Kassel provides research based crop production information to area farmers and agribusiness. Educational programs are available for farmers, agribusiness, pesticide applicators, and certified crop advisors.